Fix "500 Internal Server Error" when accessing the MIDAS installer

1. The "install.pl" file (and / or the server directory in which you've uploaded the MIDAS software installer to) does not have sufficient permission to allow the execution of Perl (.pl) scripts.
2. The "install.pl" file (and / or the server directory in which you've uploaded the MIDAS software installer to) has been granted excessive permissions. (Some servers will block the execution of Perl scripts if the file / folder permissions have been set to allow public writing)
3. Perl is located on your server at a different location to the one specified within the MIDAS installer.

To verify whether any of the above are causing your Internal Server Error issue, please check the following:

1. Ensure that the install.pl file and the server directory in which it resides have been granted "execute" permissions (CHMOD 755)
2. Ensure that the install.pl file and the folder in which it resides have not been granted CHMOD 0777 permissions. If so, reducing these to CHMOD 0755 may resolve this issue.
3. Open the install.pl file in a regular text editor, and verify that the first line of this file points to the correct location of Perl on your server (commonly #!/usr/bin/perl on Unix servers, or #!C:/Perl/bin/perl.exe on Windows servers). This first line of any Perl script is known as the "shebang" line, and if Perl is located at a different location on your particular server to the shebang line, you will need to amend this very first line of the install.pl file accordingly to reflect the correct location (ensuring that you retain the #! characters at the very start of the line) and save changes.

If you're still receiving an "Internal Server Error" after checking and verifying all of the above, then there may be an issue with your Perl installation itself.

A quick way to verify whether Perl is working correctly on your server is to create a very simple test .pl script containing the following two lines:

Save this Perl test file as "test.pl" to the same directory on your server from where you're trying to run the MIDAS installer, making sure it's been granted "Execute" permission (CHMOD 755).

Now, try accessing this test.pl file via your web browser. If Perl is configured correctly on your server, you should see the words "Hello World" appear in your web browser.

If however, even with this simple test of Perl, you're still seeing an "Internal Server Error" in your browser, then it's likely that you've not specified the correct location of Perl on your server in the first line of the test file, or that Perl has not been correctly configured on your server, which you will first need to address in order to be able to install your self-hosted MIDAS room scheduling system.